Mikey’s POV

School went the same for the next several weeks. The only real change was that Pete hung out with me more around school. We would walk to class together, walk home together, walk to school together, and walk around school together. My mom was so happy I had a friend, that she only gave me two rules; 1) tell her if I am not going to be home 2) always have manners if I’m at someone’s house. I liked having a friend. It was something that was fun and always made me feel better.

Saturdays were typically boring, I usually studied all day and then played video games while I waited for Gee to call us. It was mid afternoon when Gee finally called, I was closing my French textbook and putting my notebook away when the phone rang.

“ Hey Mikes.” He said as I answered.

We talked about how college was for him, and how his classes were going. For him, it was really fun and he loved living by his own rules. We then talked about things here. Mom told him all about Pete the other day, and how I hung out with him practically all the time.

“Don’t tell mom, but when I first met him, he saved me from getting my face pounded in by a stupid twat.”

“AWWW he’s your prince in shinning armor! Little Mikey has a prince!” he said cutely.

“I do not have a prince in shinning armor. Would you shut your stupid pie hole, he’s my friend. MY ONLY friend.”

“Aw Mikey’s getting defensive, does he have a little crushy wushy on petey weety.”

“That was sickening, and NO. I DON’T have a crush on Pete.”

“Mikey, it’s okay to be gay. I love you either way, you’re my little brother.”

“I’m not gay. Would you quite assuming things. Just because you’re older, doesn’t mean you’re always right. You know what? I’m done. I’ll talk to you next week or what ever. Bye. Love you.” And then I hung up on him.

Slamming the phone back on the wall, I stormed off to my room where I slammed my door and sat against it. Thankfully, my parents were out at the store. What Gerard said upset me.

Just because Pete kept me from getting my face rearranged by that guy, doesn’t mean he’s my prince in shining armor, does it? Being gay means I like guys, I don’t know if I like guys. I’ve never kissed a girl, nor a boy, so how would I know which I like better? Girls have things that are nice like personalities, and smiles. But boys have those too. Girls are nice, and boys are too.

Damnit, why couldn’t I be normal and know what I liked? Groaning, I eventually got up from the floor and into my bed. Staring up at the ceiling, I tried to think about all the moments I had with Pete. Would those be like if I was a friend with another person? Would I laugh like that with another friend, or was it something about Pete? I began to think, and over think.

Maybe I was just destined to be alone. Maybe I was better off alone. Maybe everyone was better off without me. Pulling the blanket over me, I then noticed the wetness on my cheeks. It was then that I realized that I was crying. Letting it all out, I sobbed into my pillow. Everything hurt, my chest, my stomach, and my head. There was a temporary solution to my problem, take some pills and go to sleep, and deal with it all tomorrow. At this point, that sounded like a pretty good option.

Taking 2 pills instead of the normal amount I take, I made my room dark before finally falling into sweet, sweet sleep.


When Monday came around, I was not as tired as I usually was, but I was just overall done. The homeless man thanked me as I handed off my lunch to him; I eventually found out that his name was Paul. He had served in a few wars, many years ago. When his wife died, he had taken her death rather hard, and drank away his money, and lost his house. He got sober, but he has yet to be able to find a home. He later confined in me that the day I gave him my lunch, he was actually contemplating suicide, but the act of kindness caused him to rethink his plan.

After that day, he tried to get his life together a bit more. The shelter helped him get new clothes, and take showers and meals. I talk to him every other day, for a small amount of time. He’s nice, and not a bad person.

By the time lunchtime came, I wanted to hide out in my locker and forget high school was even a place. Pete had been given lunch detention as well as after school detention, for, “having too many tardies.” Brad, the oldest of the dickheads, saw me and decided that they were going to have fun, and I was going to have pain.

He punched me in the stomach repeatedly and punched me in the jaw. When I didn’t fight back, or show the pain he wanted to see, he gave up. Pete didn’t know about what Brad did, and I wasn’t about to tell him. During music, I had to ignore the constant pain in my stomach as well as I could. I covered the jaw on my face with some concealer I found in my bag.

Music was going well, at least that was until the end of class. My stomach hurt far too much, so I got up and walked out of class and then sprinted to the bathroom. I threw up what little I had eaten for breakfast this morning into the toilet. My head began to pound, and I began to sweat. At some point my vision got blurry and then went dark.

I felt a hand on me, and then heard a voice, and finally when I opened my eyes, was able to see. I was in the nurses’ office. Oh thank god. If I had ended up in the ER, this would have been bad. Sitting beside me was Pete. When I groaned as I tried to sit up, he saw that I was awake and pushed me back down into the cot. “You got so sick that you passed out in the bathroom. I knew that something wasn’t right so I followed you and then I found you out cold on the tile. It scared me so bad. Don’t you ever do that again!” He said.

The nurse came in and said, “ Can I talk to Mikey alone for a moment?” Pete nodded and left.

“ Do you know why you passed out?”

“I remember throwing up a few times before passing out. My stomach hurt bad after lunch, I think it was something that I had eaten.”

“Okay. Well, it’s the end of the day; you are free to go home. The buses have already left, so you need a ride home. I will not let you walk home.”

“Okay.” The nurse nodded and then left, and let Pete back into the room.

“She wont let me leave until I get a ride home, and didn’t you have detention?”

“I ditched. You were more important.”

“Right. Anyway, I guess I need to call my mom.”

“I’ll give you a ride home?”

“You have a car?” I asked.

“Nah.”

“Then how?”

“She never said it had to be a car, I can give you a piggy back ride. It’ll be no problem.”

“Its too far, I appreciate your offer though.”

“Really Mikey, it’s no problem. I’m pretty strong, it’s no problem.”

“ I’ll call my mom, its no problem.”

“Mikey.”

“Pete.”

“Yes.”

“No.”
“No.”
“Yes.”

“HA. See, that solves it, I’ll carry you home.” He said cheekily.

I gave him a mini glare and said, “You tricked me.”

“With good intentions.”

“Fine. Tell the nurse you found me a ride, so we can be on our merry way.”

“Alrighty.” He said with a smile.


Gathering my stuff, Pete carried my stuff, his stuff and me. If he could carry my fat self, AND our stuff, he is stronger than I thought he could be. The walk was about 20 minutes at the rate he walked. I didn’t complain; I wasn’t the one caring another person. When we got about five houses from my house, I begged him to put me down so I could walk up and my mom wouldn’t freak out or anything. He did as I asked, thankfully.

My mom invited him in, but he declined and said he had homework to do. Going up to my room, I took of my damp clothes and put on dry clothes after taking a shower. Going to bed, I didn’t even care that my homework wasn’t done. Sleep was anything but peaceful. I woke up multiple times because of bad dreams.

The most terrifying one was that Pete had turned out to be a jock, and hated me. He told everyone my secrets, which then led them to beat me up really bad. They broke my arm, my nose and more.

I was afraid Pete would turn on me, that he would be no better than the asshats that beat me up all the time. My fear of all the possibilities kept me from sleeping the rest of the night. When 6 am finally came around, I was tired. I had been up for 6 hours. Getting ready for school, I hoped it would be manageable.

Notes

Thanks for the reviews!

much love!

~Ash